Phoenix.BloggersPub

Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports caught up with former Orioles pitcher Kris Benson recently to talk about how the pitcher’s rehab is going and what his future pitching plans are. During the interview Benson lists a group of potential suitors, one of which is the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Benson, who underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in March 2007, ending his spring training and his final season with the Orioles, says the Cardinals and Dodgers have expressed the most interest. Dodgers executive Logan White watched him throw off flat ground last week.

Benson also mentioned the Diamondbacks and Rangers among a handful of clubs that could decide to sign him. He said the Indians showed some interest before signing Carl Pavano.

Benson will audition for teams on January 24th in Scottsdale, Arizona at a yet to be determined location.

Benson last pitched in the majors in 2006 posting an 11-12 record with a 4.82 ERA and has been rehabbed his torn rotator cuff last season as a member of the Philadelphia’s Triple-A club.

The Take:It seems like Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes is in search of a low risk high reward starting pitcher and Kris Benson certainly fits the bill. If this is true the deal should be an incentive laden contract that is a win, win for both sides. No word what role Anna Benson will play in the deal but hopefully it’s a big one.

We already know Larry Fitzgerald is one of the NFL’s most exciting receivers, however it never gets old hearing the story.

The Wall Street Journal’s Reed Albergotti wrote a piece today about Fitzgerald and how his acrobatics are the talk of the NFL.

It certainly seems that as each week goes by, Fitzgerald impresses more and more and should be considered the top receiver in the NFL.

Please if you have the chance, go read the story.

Scott

Photo: Tom Mihalek/AP

Here at Fanster, we’ve watched a lot of Cardinal football. A lot. And quite frankly, the disbelief of actually being able to use the words Arizona Cardinals and NFC Championship game in the same sentence seem unreal, and almost dirty to be honest. THE ARIZONA CARDINALS ARE ONE GAME AWAY FROM THE FREAKING SUPER BOWL!!! To quote Chainsaw from the award-winning film Summer School, “tension breaker…had to be done.”

We’ve told you what the experts think, and who they are picking to win. Now, we unleash our own picks. (Note: Fanster is a Phoenix sports website, run by Phoenix sports fans). There, that should cover what you’re about to read.

Greg Esposito’s pick

My prediction?…..PAIN

That’s right. I’m predicting pain for this game. I’m just not quite sure for which team’s fan base. Yes, I am a fence sitter. Everything in my heart says the Cardinals. But something in my head says “the Eagles have been here before.” Then my heart suddenly remembers, “yeah, they’ve been here before four times in the last seven years and have one Super Bowl appearance to show for it.” It’s tough to shake thoughts of the way the Eagles carved the Red Birds on Thanksgiving, (lame pun, I know) but this Cardinals team has looked special in the last two weeks. The game comes down to one simple thing. Has Russ Grimm better prepared his offensive line to face the ingenious blitzing schemes of Jim Johnson? If the answer is yes, and Kurt Warner can stay on his feet, the Cardinals will be in business. If not, then here comes the “same ol’ Cards” from November.

In the end I’m a hopeless romantic. My 20+ year love affair with the Cardinals leads me to believe the Cardinals will win this game 31-24 on Sunday.

Matt Blake’s pick

Let’s face it everyone, the Cardinals are not the same team that they were back in the regular season…Yet, the national media is still giving the Cardinals no love. Perhaps they don’t believe that Edge can continue to rack up consistent yards for the third straight game. Perhaps they think that the defense’s utterly astounding play cannot be three-peated. Perhaps they have failed to note that Anquan Boldin is actually going to be playing this game…making the offense even more formidable. Or…perhaps they have just failed to actually watch this team, because if they did, they would see a team that’s chemistry has clicked at just the right time. And lucking into a NFC Championship home game certainly helps…a ton. The Cardinals will eat the Eagles alive, and the national media will be shell shocked with the Cinderella story that is the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals are headed to Tampa after they take this one 34-21.

Vince Marotta’s pick

My prediction? Pa–crap, Greg already used that joke. The Arizona Cardinals, quite simply, are playing better, more complete football on both sides of the ball than any other team left standing. Their offense has actually slowed down a bit in the passing game, but picked up the dimension of a running game. Their defense, which had been exploited at many times this season, is playing smart, disciplined football. And did I mention, they’ve caused 9 turnovers in two games?

Forgive me going all Bill Simmons on you here, but the Cardinals are basically the football version of Daniel LaRusso of The Karate Kid. The NFL playoffs are football’s version of the All-Valley Under 18 Karate Championships. The Cardinals “snuck” their way into the playoffs by winning a bad division. Daniel-san “snuck” into the All-Valley tournament when Mr. Miyagi stole a black belt conveniently left in an open gym bag right next to the registration table. The Cardinals shocked the league by defeating Atlanta and Carolina in the first two rounds of the playoffs, looking like savvy postseason veterans in the process. LaRusso shocked onlookers when he won his first few matches, including one against a Cobra Kai who had an uncanny resemblance to Lamar Litrell, the limp-wristed javelin thrower from Revenge of the Nerds.

You get the idea, LaRusso continues to defeat opponents, like Tommy and Dutch, who feel that they are better than him, based on the near-death beatings they’ve dropped on him during the school year. Don’t you get the feeling that the Falcons and the Panthers feel like they’re better than the Cardinals too? The Falcons are Tommy, and the Panthers are Dutch. Next up, Bobby Brown, err, I mean Philadelphia. We know how The Karate Kid ends. And we can’t stray from the story, now can we? Cardinals pull out the crane technique on the Eagles, 28-20.

The Injury report was released for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.  Anquan Boldin is officially listed as questionable, but said he will play.

Click here for the full report on nfl.com.

Go Cardinals!

Scott Allen

I had the pleasure of being interviewed last evening by Jeff Schools from the Central Maine Sports Blog and host of Sports Vortex on WJZF-FM in Maine.

Click here for the interview.

Go Cardinals!

Scott Allen

I know, the image is creepy, but it’s merely a play on words. Now get your minds out of the gutter.

This has been called the most unpredictable NFL season ever by many so called experts around the country. That unpredictability has continued in the postseason.

Both #6 seeds are alive and well, and one win away from the Super Bowl. The Arizona Cardinals were picked by absolutely nobody to be here, so everything’s gravy at this point, right?

With so many prognostications gone awry, why am I still so interested in what everyone around the country is picking?

Here’s what the gurus have said so far…(click on chart to enlarge)

Interesting phenomena in place here….

• If you’re a former player who played for a team in action, you have to pick that team. Former Eagles Eric Allen, Mike Golic, Brian Baldinger and Ron Jaworski all picked the Eagles. Former Cardinal Jay Novacek picked, you got it, the Cardinals. Nothing like that professional objectivity, huh?
• This list is skewed by the presence of the Philadelphia Daily News’ sports staff, all of whom pick the Eagles, except for Marcus Hayes, who likes the Cards by a touchdown.
• Bill Simmons of ESPN picks the Cardinals, which could be bad news, considering he couldn’t pick his nose correctly this postseason.
• There is no apparent truth to the rumor that Fox’s Daryl “Moose” Johnston is still in the press box at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, waving his Panthers pennant and mumbling “there’s still time for Carolina to come back. They just need to commit to the run.” No word on who Moose is picking as of yet, but then again, if you’re a Cardinals fan, you don’t really care.

It’s a rarity that you find a pro athlete that can make the claim that Phoenix Suns’ guard Alando Tucker can.

Tucker has never had a drink, gotten a tattoo or smoked a cigarette and for good reason.

We [Alando and his brother] saw a lot growing up – gang activity, murders, a lot of guys getting killed and a lot of people dying from drug use. I have friends that have died and even in college I’d hear every other week about a friend or someone I grew up with getting killed or dying. A lot of times we’d hear gunshots and be scared for our lives. We had a two-floor house that we lived in and after 8 at night we had to be upstairs because we were scared that a stray bullet could come through the window.

Gangs like the Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords and the Latin Kings were all around where I grew up. From them, you had other little groups breaking off to form their own little gangs. It was all within a matter of blocks, too. If you went down the street a few blocks there’d be one gang and if you kept going a few more blocks there’d be another. And sometimes you’d have to walk through it to get to school.

Tucker describes all of his hardships growing up in Chicago over on Suns.com. It’s a pretty powerful story and refreshing to hear an athlete who isn’t out “making it rain” or getting a DUI for one reason or another.

Check out Alando’s blog over at Suns.com.

2008/2009 NBA Regular Season
22-14	vs.	11-26
US Airway Center
January 16th, 2009, 7:00 PM MST / 9:00 PM EST
FSN AZ, 620 KTAR
Probable starters:
Steve Nash	PG	Sebastian Telfair
Jason Richardson	SG	Randy Foye
Grant Hill	SF	Ryan Gomes
Amare Stoudemire	PF	Craig Smith
Shaquille O'Neal	C	Al Jefferson
Official Suns Game Notes

The Suns look to bounce back from the tough loss last night against the Nuggets with a Shaq-led victory over the perennially hapless Timberwolves.

Wyn from Canis Hoopus put the Wolves recent 5 game winning streak in perspective when we spoke the other night for the pregame podcast. He explained that while the Wolves are playing better mainly due to the hot streak of Randy Foye they didn't beat a single team with a winning record.

For more (way) more detailed breakdown of this game and the matchups you can listen to the discussion.

Maybe even more important then the actual game is the big first ever Tweet up going on at USAC. It sounds like there will be a huge crowd with all kinds of fun pre and post game stuff. I will be there with Sun of Stan so don't expect to hear from me unless you get off the dime and sign up for Twitter and follow me at @phoenixstan.

I will be chillin w/ the boyz from Fanster.com and it is rumored that The Big Tweet himself might make an appearance after the game during our meet and greet with Steve Kerr (I don't think I will bring up the Moron Meter at this time).

If you are watching at home look for a big group in the upper deck with their hands tweeting on iphones and blackberry's and not talking to each other. You can follow along (if you really care to) at #sunstweetup. 

You really have to hand it to the Suns for jumping on board the social media train so quickly. The Suns clearly lead the leauge in tweets per seat.

Oh, and I almost forgot that season premiers of Friday Night Lights AND Battlestar Galactica's final 10 episodes are tonight making this an epic evening for basketball's internet geeks.

Time: 7 p.m. MST

TV: FSAZ

Timberwolves

Suns

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this is what the Suns saved Shaq for?

An 11-26 Minnesota squad?

Really?

When he could have been the difference against the Nuggets?

The last time the Suns played the Wolves it was also as the second game of a back-to-back, and Phoenix held Shaq out of the first game of that set as well.

But that one made sense, with the Suns facing (and nearly losing to I might add) the hapless, interior-deficient Oklahoma City Thunder.

This time around the Suns played what could prove to be a critical Western Conference matchup at Denver, and in an overtime game in which the Suns shot too many jump shots in a physical battle, you can’t convince me Shaq wouldn’t have made the difference.

Ever since I first heard about the Rest-a-Shaq plan I questioned how it would be decided which game Shaq sits, especially after Vinny Del Negro used Shaq sitting against his Bulls as his pregame speech before Chicago throttled the Shaq-less Suns.

Deciding whether Shaq sits against Chicago or Milwaukee matters about as much in the grand scheme of things as Robin Lopez picking up two first quarter fouls, but the difference between playing against a Denver team that ranks second in the West and a Minnesota team 11 games out of a playoff spot matters as much as Amare getting into early foul trouble.

TNT’s commentators questioned the move because it would mean Shaq will now have to play three games in four days, but I bet the Daddy sits Sunday morning’s game in Toronto anyway.

OK, so in the Suns’ defense Denver doesn’t have a post force like Minnesota’s Al Jefferson, who averages 22.2 ppg and 10.4 rpg. Even with Shaq in the middle, Jefferson went for 28 and 17 in the first meeting after torching the Suns for averages of 30.5 and 15.3 last season.

He even led the Wolves to five straight wins to begin the month before dropping a three-point contest to Miami on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, I’m still a bit concerned about Steve Nash’s minutes. Nash played a season-high 46 minutes (he missed the other OT game, but still).

I wonder if that means he may get a bit more bench time in this one than usual, especially with that six-game Eastern swing coming up, starting with a contest in Nash’s native land.

But you can’t complain about Nash’s production against the Nuggets, as he scored 20 points on 5-for-10 shooting (4-for-5 threes, 6-for-6 free throws), dished 14 assists and grabbed seven boards (although he also committed six TOs).

Here we are,  just two days away from the big game.  The Cardinals and Eagles take the field at 1pm on Sunday and it can’t get here soon enough.  There is not a whole lot of new information news wise, however, I was able to search out more of what was being said about this game and these teams. 

Karen Crouse of The New York Times Fifth Down Blog found a Cheesesteak sandwich shop down the street from the Cardinals practice facility where 80 percent of his customers are from Philly or South Jersey but also caters to Cardinals players who stop in as well.  The owner feels like he will be a winner either way on Sunday.

That’s got to be tough, to be a transplant from Philadelphia, but live here and be a Cardinals fan as well.  I am torn in the same way in baseball, as I grew up a die hard Cubs fan and now I am a die hard Diamondbacks fan.  However when the two play, I am solidly for the Diamondbacks.  I have to cheer for the home team.

Phil Simms, CBS Analyst says that for much of the year the Cardinals were “too predictable”. 

This is true, in many aspects.  Their running plays on offense never changed.  If they run that delayed draw play up the middle one more time, I might pull my hair out.  Over the last couple of weeks though now the Cardinals have their opponents thinking about what they are going to do. 

Jim Corbett from USA Today picks the Cardinals to win, even though he picked the Philadelphia Eagles as his pre-playoff NFC Champion. 

He is only one of two individuals for USA Today (out of eight) picking the Cardinals to win, which is more than fine by me.  We’ll see how long the Cards can play out the underdog role.  If they win, expect them to be a dog in the Super Bowl.  Lose, and it makes a lot of people look like a genius. 

Go Cardinals!!

Scott Allen